"I Really Hope That You Will Condemn This Act of Aggression"

Yesterday, I received the following e-mail from an Italian friend of mine who has lived in India for the better part of thirty years as an ISKCON (Hare Krishna) devotee. I have known him for over a decade and am indebted to him for all that he has shared with me with respect to religion, spirituality, and Krishna Consciousness in particular. He is a caring and well-meaning person who is, a bit of an aging hippy and a true believer in his chosen faith.

Since his points are accusations that are repeatedly levelled at Israel, I decided to respond in an open letter. Here is his letter in full and unadulterated:

HARE KRISHNA EIAL HOW ARE YOU?
VERY BAD NEWS ARE COMMING HERE DO YOUR ARMY SEND SMS TO THE SCHOOL? BEFORE SENDING A MISSAIL AND KILLING
16 BETWEN WOMAN AND CHILDREN? IT LOOK LIKE THE WITH AMERICAN KILLING THE READ SKIN AMERICAN
WAT A SHAME I REALLY HOPE THAT YOU WILL CONDEM THIS ACT OF AGGRESSION

My response:

Hare Krishna!

Yes, it is truly tragic that innocent civilians including many women and children died in the shelling of the UNRWA school in Beit Hanoun. 

The short answer to your question is: No. There is no evidence that the army sent an SMS to the school prior to firing a mortar round at it.  Rather, starting three days before this incident, the Israeli army informed ALL the citizens of this border town (through SMS, through the media, and through leaflets) that they should evacuate before the army arrived.  Unfortunately, there is a great deal of evidence indicating that Hamas operatives actively prevented them from doing so.

Then, on the day of this tragic event, a phone call was made to the school by the Israeli Defence Forces requesting that all the people immediately leave the school.  Though they were granted four hours to do so, this request was also ignored.  As this video shows (Click Here), they were requested to leave the area because Hamas had placed several Grad rocket launchers in the vicinity of the school and were firing these rockets into Israel. Even worse than that, twice in the last week rockets were found stored inside an UNRWA school (see Here). Lastly, it is important to note that at least three Hamas rockets that were shot at Israel from the Gaza Strip fell short and landed that day in Beit Hanoun and it is not yet clear whether or not it was Hamas that was directly responsible for this incident.

In any case, let’s assume for now that an Israeli tank was, in fact, responsible for the shelling of the school and the tragic loss of life. If that is proven to be true, I still would no more condemn this act than I would condemn a car driver who killed a group of pedestrians because their brakes failed. In both cases, there is undoubtedly a tragedy. In both cases, there needs to be a full investigation and lessons learned to prevent any repeat. Yet, in both cases, the intent is as equally important as the tragic consequences.

  

So, until such time that someone can definitively prove to me that an Israeli soldier DELIBERATELY, on purpose, and with malice aforethought, fired into a crowd of women and children huddled in a school, I see no reason to voice condemnation for this truly unfortunate event. To do so would not only be self-righteous, but morally suspect. It would remove intentionality and privilege me as omniscient judge and jury when, as you know, the only one who can do that is G-d.

But that is not all. In case you have not noticed, Israel and Hamas are currently engaged in a war.  In the fog of war many terrible things happen to people – both those who are innocent and those who are not. Though all the evidence points to the majority of those being killed being men of fighting age (see here), all that an army can do is try its best to avoid civilian casualties.

At the end of the day, wars are violent affairs and protecting civilians is not only the responsibility of one side. While Israel has developed impressive defensive capabilities (e.g. Iron Dome) and built early-warning systems and bomb shelters, the elected Hamas GOVERNMENT of Gaza has used its international aid to build attack tunnels into Israel and bomb shelters that protect only their leaders and fighters. 

As such, I condemn them for purposefully placing their civilian population in harm’s way and expect that you would condemn them as well. Moreover, as the party that began this round of violence – by kidnapping and murdering three teenagers and shooting rockets at Israel unprovoked – they made a DELIBERATE choice to pursue violence and thus need to be held accountable for its tragic consequences. Even now Hamas could easily put an end to the suffering on both sides of the border by accepting the numerous ceasefires that have been offered them.

Last, but certainly not least, your assertion that this looks in any way like the genocide carried out on Native Americans must be addressed. To begin with, I strongly suggest that you put down the Srimad Bhagavatam long enough to reread the Jewish Bible and all it says about the ancient Jewish connection to this land. Regardless of whether you accept the Bible as G-d’s word, there is no doubt that the Jewish people are an indigenous people of this land. This is evidenced both in our writings and in the numerous archaeological finds located throughout Israel.

Indeed, from about the 14^th century before the Christian era and until the 13^th Century Crusades, there was a very strong Jewish presence in this land, including hundreds of years of Jewish rule.  Even after the 13^th century, there were numerous Jewish communities in this land and even Jewish majorities in some of the major cities.  Certainly, every Jew everywhere considers themselves to be indigenous to this place and connected to this land. Our entire religion revolves around our obligation to this land and Jerusalem has been the sole, eternal capital of the Jews for 3,000 years.  As such, I would argue, it is, in fact, the Jews who are no different than the “Red-skin Americans” you referenced in your letter.

If you would also consider for one moment that we are surrounded by millions of fanatics who would love nothing more than to see every last one of us dead, then you would realize how close we are at any given moment to a real genocide. The only reason that our neighbours have not been able to carry out this murderous vision is because the Israeli army is here to defend us. So, as terrible as it is when innocent people die, I will not condemn those who have been forced to fight and die to protect the one place we call home. In fact, I sincerely believe that history will harshly judge those who were quick to condemn us.

נצח ישראל לא ישקר!